He is updating as responses come in from his calls to those who signed it.

Yes, they did: 18 No, they didn’t: 14

Kathleen McGrory’s story that appeared in the Miami Herald on Friday included revelations that two people on the list of Parent Trigger supporters Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst submitted to Lakeland Senator Kelli Stargel never signed the petition. One confirmed that she did.

Scathing Purple Musings has the list and began randomly selecting people on Saturday afternoon by contacting the email address on the petition. As of this morning, 125 (approximately 10 percent) have received emails requesting verification. The tally above includes the 3 people (1-yes; 2-no) McGrory referenced in her story. Five of the email addresses which were all cataloged on March 21st or more recently no longer exist and one person was unable to remember.

Here are two responses of those who say they did not sign the petition Michelle Rhee submitted.

UPDATE (1020AM CDT) From yesterday’s post: Bill Williamson of Palm Bay, Florida denies signing Rhee’s petition saying, ”to the best of my recollection, I do not recall signing a petition seeking support for the so-called Parent Trigger legislation. I do not support any legislation that would enable charter schools to shoulder their way into our public school systems without open discussion and local or statewide referendums.”

..."UPDATE (1034AM CDT) Chip Righter of Delray Beach didn’t sign either and emails “being a single man my entire life, and never married, I would have little interest in a petition seeking any parental position. If someone has rigged this petition, then they must be fired and banned for life to hold any future legislative positions. In the past I have had to pass drug and polygraph tests to get hired for employment. Why should we not demand all politicians to pass annual polygraph examinations to make sure the decisions they are making are in the best interest for American and stop what we all know is their individual financial gain. If politicians were doing nothing wrong why would refuse? American’s think the very lowest of politicians and they have earned their star.

Doubt has also been cast on a petition allegedly signed by more than 1,200 supporters of the parent trigger proposal. Three people whose names appear on the petition told The Herald/Times they never signed it.

“It’s sad that they are resorting to these tactics,” said Rita Solnet, a Palm Beach County mother whose non-profit organization Parents Across America opposes the parent trigger bill. “But it puts it all in perspective. It’s people from outside Florida and outside our schools who support this bill. It’s not the real parents.”
The parent trigger bill hits the Senate floor on Monday. It has already passed in the House.

The controversial proposal would enable a majority of parents to demand sweeping changes at failing public schools, including having a charter school management company step in. It would also require principals to notify parents when their kids are assigned to “ineffective” or out-of-field teachers for two consecutive years, and provide information about virtual-education alternatives.

On Sunday, The Herald/Times sent an email to each person who had allegedly signed the online petition. Of the 241 who responded, 212 confirmed their signatures.

"I signed it electronically," wrote Woodie H. Thomas, III, a Palm Beach Gardens attorney. "I'm for any catalyst that brings meaningful change to the public school system."

But 29 people said they had not signed the petition.

"I did NOT join my name to a petition in support of the so-called Parent Empowerment Act," wrote John Raymaker, of Tallahassee. "Instead, I signed a petition OPPOSING this act. More deceitful, incredibly dishonest tactics!"

That Parents Revolution group from CA apparently took on a new name, Sunshine Parents, and made a video in support of the parent trigger law. Parent groups in Florida oppose this law by a very big margin.

That is just plain dishonest, and putting names on a petition when they did not sign it is worse.

I would call it fraudulent.

Is anyone in authority in Florida going to speak out loudly against these acts? Or is Michelle Rhee untouchable?

7. .

8. Good timing on this story.

The bill (SB 862) is scheduled for second reading on Monday. It can be passed after the third reading.

Parent trigger's "grass roots" support is looking more and more like pure astroturf. The "Sunshine Parents" video was produced by California-based Parent Revolution and featured links to Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future. And now Michelle Rhee's Student First is supporting the legislation with fraudulent petitions...

10. Bob Sikes post is being spammed.

UPDATE (856PM CDT) Five separate spam attacks have now been attempted as comments to this post

(Done with updates for the night. Still receiving emails and analysis of email list is still evolving. Look for another story from Kathleen McGrory in the morning – Bob Sikes)

UPDATE: A second person and third person – now four total – who contacted this blog indicating they’d never signed Rhee’s petition also appear twice. All originally on 3/21 and the again during the same small window between 3/29 and 3/30.

12. From Bob Sikes 4/27 post. Where did Rhee get those names? Has she broken laws?

There are countless questions that need to be answered. Consider these:

Why a petition for a single piece of legislation in an isolated state begins with the number 5,311,422 is indeed puzzling. How and why was Rhee able to get so many signatures in a six-hour period. Why didn’t Stargel vet the numbers? Were the names on the petition part of the 1000 that Rhee operative Catherine Robinson submit during last year’s debate?

If McGrory were able to identify three people from the list who said they never signed the petition, how did Rhee get their names? And how many more from Rhee’s petition have no business being there either? Did Rhee purchase a mailing list to create to generate fake support?

Worse potentially for Rhee, has she broken any laws? Is it illegal to submit a fraudulent list of supporters to affect legislation? If there is no such statute, Stargel is obliged to vet the list. She obviously didn’t and her denial represents the latest deceitful maneuver by a Florida republican legislator to get an equally deceitful bill passed.

19. Here are some snips:

<snip>

"The parents told me that a Los Angeles-based group calling itself Parent Revolution organized a local campaign to harass and trick them into signing petitions that they thought were meant for simple school improvements. In fact those petitions turned out to be part of a sophisticated campaign to convert their children’s public school into a privately-run charter — something a majority of parents opposed. At times, locals say, the Parent Revolution volunteers’ tactics were so heavy-handed in gathering signatures that they crossed the line into harassment and intimidation. Many parents were misled about what the petition they signed actually meant. Some told me that the intimidation with some of the undocumented Latino residents included bribery and extortion."

<snip>

"Maggie told me she had to file a police report against a Parent Revolution activist because the man kept harassing her every time she came to pick up and drop off her kids at school. “Because I was one of the parents who did not want to sign... he blocked the car with his body and prevented me from leaving, writing my writing my plates down, taking pictures of my plates, taking pictures of the kids...it was just harassment."

<snip>

"Parent Revolution lawyered up, and after a year of court battles, forced the Adelanto’s school district to accept the trigger petition. In the summer of 2012, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Steve Malone ruled that the school district had no right to reject the petition because California's parent trigger law did not give it authority to rescind signatures. It was a bizarre decision, and didn’t seem to accord with the spirit and letter of California’s Parent Empowerment Law."

There should be real concern at the way Michelle Rhee has manipulated public education and gotten away with it. It should not be about individual politicians, it should not be about certain of us who post....it should be about how much harm she has done and continues to do.